One of the tricks in preparing conveyancing documents, is to know when to use the first (I, We) or the third (she, they) person.

The Power of Attorney is in the first person because the mentioned person is making a statement: “I hereby authorize Jane Salt to appear before the Registrar and to declare that I sold the property”. So, if Jane needed to be “assisted” by her husband in the Power of Attorney, then this would also be set out in the first person: “I, Mary Smith, duly assisted by my husband. . . “ etc.

The Deed of Transfer however, is different: it records the story and is in the third person: “It is made known that Jane Salt appeared before the Registrar of Deeds, she being authorized by a Power of Attorney granted to her by Mary Smith at Johannesburg on 23rd April 2010” and it then goes on to describe the sale, the reason for the transfer, the property description, and so on.

Sometimes the preparer of the documents forgets this little subtle difference.

Regards,
Sieg

[I am now blogging this diary: see http://aconveyancersdiary.blogspot.com/ ]